Third Thursday Member Meeting

About 30 interested people attended our March meeting focused on climate action in our county. As a bonus, the meeting started with San Ramon Valley High School student Soha Guller informing us about her “Climate Challenge” app that she created for smart phones. The app poses trivia questions designed to raise awareness of climate issues in a fun and entertaining way. Attendees were impressed as they tried out the app and heard Soha share her passion for making a difference.

Ogie Strogatz introduced the main speaker Lynda Deschambault, newly elected member of the East Bay Regional Park District Board of Directors. Lynda has an impressive background from work in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to being mayor of Moraga in addition to her science-related education. Her preference is for a focus on local action where things can get done more quickly; she feels that East Bay Parks are a great example of local initiatives where an environmental ethic guides their actions.

Critical to the East Bay Parks is building climate resiliency in several areas including water quality and wildfire risk management. She noted that we are already seeing climate change impacts in the county parks – for the first time ever some parks were shut down last year due to the danger of extremely hot weather affecting park employees. Extensive work is in progress to improve safety from wildfires including the use of “carbonators” to burn dead trees into inert charcoal.

Besides enjoying hiking and other outdoor activities in the parks, she encouraged us to get involved in the outdoors by using the Merlin and iNaturalist apps to participate in “citizen science” related to birding and biodiversity our area. The park district also has an annual Trails Challenge program to encourage people to connect with parks and trails while tracking their milage goals.

In parting, Lynda challenged all the attendees to get involved in local action by attending one public meeting a year where we can speak up about what we think about an important issue.

Click here to view Lynda’s slide show

To download Soha Guller’s “Climate Challenge” trivia app, search for the app’s name in your device’s app store.

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Lynda Deschambault was elected to the East Bay Regional Park District Board of Directors in November 2024 to represent Ward 2. Protecting the environment is her life’s work. She has more than 37 years of experience as an Environmental Scientist and Educator, including 20 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She served for five years on the East Bay Regional Park District’s Park Advisory Committee. Lynda also served as Mayor to the Town of Moraga, as director for the Solid Waste Authority, and on the League of California Cities Environmental Quality Policy Commission. She focuses her efforts on science and sustainability, climate resilience, community engagement, tribal relations, and environmental justice.

Lynda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Soil Science with a focus on Environmental Chemistry from the University of New Hampshire, as well as an M.B.A. in Management/Organizational Development from the University of California, Long Beach.